Here are the highlights of a good thread on the term "isolationism"
in reference to a style of ambient music, from the ambient music
mailing list.

Date: Wed, 05 Apr 95 11:46:28
From: Brian Duguid
If nothing else, the "debate" about the validity of the term
"isolationism" is a good example of how public discourse turns musical
labels into something entirely different from what their creators
intended. "Isolationism" is a term that was used considerably by at least
three critics (Kevin Martin, Biba Kopf and Simon Reynolds) and was coined
to tie together various forms of ambient music that shared the common
thread of alienation, withdrawal, and anti-positivity.
Similarly, "industrial" and "ambient" now refer to something other than
what they used to, and it *does* matter, because lumping various diverse
areas into one single pigeonhole only disguises their important
differences.
> From: Darryl Stephen Roy
> As a critic, its his job to parse the enormous variety of music presently
> available into digestible categories. To create order out of the chaos of
> the creative impulse. And "Isolationism" is just a word, as meaningful
> or less as the uses to which it is put. Presently it covers a sufficiently
> limited range of musics that the fan has some idea of what he's buying when
> an artist is so pigeonholed.
While I agree, I think Kevin Martin's use of "isolationism" to describe
both musical content and the attitude of the music-makers shouldn't be
treated uncritically. He treats as part of the same "trend" musicians
whose motivations for making music are often diametrically opposed; Jim
O'Rourke, Aphex Twin, AMM and Thomas Koener all have completely different
attitudes to the music they make. Similarly, his approach leads to the
exclusion of musicians whose music sounds the same as the "isolationist"
artists but who don't fit his other criteria: Strafe FR, Asmus Tietchens
and Arcane Device might be good examples. And his focus on musical style
and creative approach rules out music that is "dark ambient" but more
concerned with how the audience perceives it; I'd suggest Pauline
Oliveros as an example, since much of her music is every bit as "moody"
as the recognised isolationists, but her interests in meditation and
audience participation go against Martin's grain.
> From: D.A.C. Crowell
> Sorry, but I agree with the irate letter. "Isolationism" really isn't all
> that different from darker ambient or ambient-oriented noise music, and
> I also view it as a marketing tag for The Typical Western Mentality that
> _requires_ a label be put on every-damned-thing so that it can be
> comprehended. From the way I hear it, the term was developed by some
> Promo department types to sell some stuff which they couldn't pigeonhole
> as being "industrial" (since that all means dancy stuff with noise and
> ugly beats nowadays, natch) nor "ambient" (it wasn't pretty/vapid/
> whatever enough), nor could it work as "New Music" since the artists in
> question didn't have sheepskin to explain their noisemaking
> with. I personally don't see _what_ is so isolating about this
> "Isolationism", myself, and think it's a lousy term to describe some
> music which is otherwise well described in other ways.
This is plain wrong; it's not how the term "isolationist" came into
existence at all. I'm intrigued as to what you mean by "sheepskin", since
artists included on the Isolationism compilation such as Jim O'Rourke and
AMM are more than capable of being recognised as "New Music".
> Well, you know what they say about critics in the art world; they're all
> basically people who _want_ to do music/art/whatever but either don't
> have the skills to make it work, or when they _do_ do it, it comes out
> looking like...well, looking like some halfassed attempt at
> music/art/whatever by some critic.
Who are "they" and why should we care less what "they say"?
> Pardon my cynicism, but I have a feeling that music press will treat
> this new category something like this: They'll fixate early on a few
> bands to the exclusion of the vast majority of bands that could be
> called Isolationist (Main already seems to be a favorite), the bands
> they do fixate on will be feted for a few years only to be turned on
> mercilessly, a few bands like :Zoviet France will be hailed as great
> innovators by critics who wouldn't give them the time of day when they
> were actually around, while others, like Coil, will be met with the
> usual conspiracy of silence. Finally, the term will be appropriated
> by some new genre of electronic dance music with a few "Isolationist"
> elements and its originators will ultimately be ignored.
Well, this has already happened. Even amongst the originators of the
"isolationist" term, the writers at The Wire, certain artists are
recognised as "in" while others aren't; this is solely down to the narrow
horizons of the relevant critics, and no more or less a problem than for
any other musical genre.
Zoviet France are still around, incidentally. And at least in the UK
press, Coil have had far more attention than ZF throughout both bands'
histories. And is it too unreasonable to suggest that if you don't like
what the critics are writing, the appropriate response is to write
something yourself?
Brian Duguid BD1@mm-croy.mottmac.co.uk
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 19:55:04 -0800
From: Silent Records / Kim Cascone
I started PGR in 1984 and way back then there was no term or phrase for
what we were doing, but it eventually got labeled as "ambient
industrial"...I have reviews of my work from 1985 that blatantly called PGR
"ambient"...I was mentioned by Mick Harris as one of many artists who
influenced him (I am honored)...my perspective is this: if you hang out in
the music industry for more than 10 years you'll see alot of recycling of
ideas...and when a genre or style reemerges it often gets a new name and
new packaging slapped on it...I find the term "isolationism" neccessary
because nobody (except for the fans) paid much attention to "ambient
industrial" music back in the 80's: PGR didn't get much airplay,
distributors didn't order it and it was hard to perform live...so in order
for it to gain it's place in history it had to resurface with a new package
so people would listen to it...besides it isn't like the people involved
(Mick Harris, Keven Martin, Bill Laswell, John Zorn etc etc) are new kids
on the block...they've been at it for years...anyway, let's not get too
hung up on names/terms and just pay attention to the music...maybe there
are some pieces from the 80's that should be re-issued in order to present
isolationisms history...just some thoughts...
KIM
Date: Tue, 4 Apr 1995 00:11:11 -0700 (PDT)
From: Peter Werner
It seems to me like Isolationism is sort of a catch-all for ambient that
has been redefined out of "Ambient", industrial that has been redefined
out of "Industrial" and other music that doesn't fit into current
pigeonholes.
Pardon my cynicism, but I have a feeling that music press will treat this
new category something like this: They'll fixate early on a few bands to
the exclusion of the vast majority of bands that could be called
Isolationist (Main already seems to be a favorite), the bands they do
fixate on will be feted for a few years only to be turned on mercilessly,
a few bands like :Zoviet France will be hailed as great innovators by
critics who wouldn't give them the time of day when they were actually
around, while others, like Coil, will be met with the usual conspiracy of
silence. Finally, the term will be appropriated by some new genre of
electronic dance music with a few "Isolationist" elements and its
originators will ultimately be ignored.
A bleak outlook perhaps, but based on the way the music industry and
music press have treated electronic music so far, its an entirely likely
scenario.
Beast of Eden